And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
I am not eloquent. It is supposed that Moses laboured under a natural defect of utterance, or had a difficulty in the free and fluent expression of his ideas in the Egyptian language, which he had long disused. This new objection was also overruled; but still Moses, who foresaw the manifold difficulties of the undertaking, was anxious to be freed from the responsibility.
Verse 14. The anger of the Lord was kindled. The Divine Being is not subject to ebullitions of passion; but His displeasure was manifested by transferring the honour of the priesthood, which would otherwise have been bestowed on Moses, to Aaron, who was from this time destined to be the head of the house of Levi (1 Chronicles 23:13). Marvellous had been His condescension and patience in dealing with Moses; and now every remaining scruple was removed by the unexpected and welcome intelligence that his brother Aaron was to be his colleague. God knew from the beginning what Moses would do; but He reserves this motive to the last, as the strongest, to rouse his languid heart, and Moses now fully and cordially complied with the call. If we are surprised at his backwardness, amidst all the signs and promises that were given him, we must admire his candour and honesty in recording it.